Request

Can I please request the following information for three cost codes, with the information split by cost code and by month, from 01/01/2020 (or earliest date data is available if after this period)? The three cost codes in questions are, Y07056 (MARSS NHS Wirral CCG) Y06273 (SFCCG Continence & Stoma Service) and Y05818 (Sefton Continence prescription service).

Total Number of items prescribed (split by cost code and month).

Total Cost of items prescribed (split by cost code and month).

Total Number of unique patients prescribed for (split by cost code and month).

Total Number of unique patients prescribed a stoma bag (split by cost code and month).

Total Number of unique patients prescribed a catheter (split by cost code and month).

Date range: 01/04/2020 - 01/01/2025

On the 19 March 2025 you clarified the following:

Thanks for looking into this for me, please find clarifications below:

• For Total Number of unique patients prescribed a stoma bag (split by cost code and month). This can be taken from the number of unique patients issued a prescription from and of the following BNF codes 2335, 2360, 2396 or 2394, which includes all the items contained within 2394.

• For Total Number of unique patients prescribed a catheter (split by cost code and month). This can be taken from the number of unique patients issued a prescription from BNF code 2102.

• Can you please provide the NIC and basic price of drug from a cost point of view.

Hopefully this provides the clarity needed, please don't hesitate to contact me again if further clarification is required.

Would it be possible to add in another element to this FOI?

For the same cost codes would it be possible to report on, for a rolling 12 month period, the average number of unique prescriptions per patient (i.e. Patients associated with Y code X have, on average, 12 prescriptions per annum).

If it's not possible to add this feature that's fine, I'll raise a new FOI for it.

Response

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested and a copy of the information is attached.

The NHSBSA does not hold the average number of unique prescriptions per patient, however the number of unique patients and the number of unique prescriptions has been provided which would enable this to be calculated.

Please read the below notes to ensure correct understanding of the data.

NHS Prescription Services process prescriptions for Pharmacy Contractors, Appliance Contractors, Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration with information then used to make payments to pharmacists and appliance contractors in England for prescriptions dispensed in primary care settings (other arrangements are in place for making payments to Dispensing Doctors and Personal Administration). This involves processing over 1 billion prescription items and payments totalling over £9 billion each year. The information gathered from this process is then used to provide information on costs and trends in prescribing in England and Wales to over 25,000 registered NHS and Department of Health and Social Care users.

Data Source

The data source was the NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse.

Time Period

January 2019 to December 2024 inclusive

Organisation Data

The data provided is for items prescribed by cost codes Y07056, Y06273 and Y05818 and dispensed in England.

Drugs

No limit on drugs for the ITEM_COUNT, NIC_GBP and UNIQUE_PATIENT_COUNT columns

UNIQUE PATIENTS_STOMA_BAG column is limited to British National Formulary (BNF) sections 2335, 2360, 2396, 2394.

UNIQUE_PATIENTS_CATHETER is limited to BNF section 2102.

Identified Patient Count

Prescriptions are only included if an NHS Number has been captured during NHSBSA processing.

Exclusions

The Data excludes:

• Items not dispensed, disallowed and those returned to the contractor for further clarification.

• Prescriptions prescribed and dispensed in Prisons, Hospitals and Private prescriptions.

• Items prescribed but not presented for dispensing or not submitted to NHS Prescription Services by the dispenser.

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Information Services Data Warehouse, NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.